PA Workers’ Compensation Available to First Responders Suffering Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Pennsylvania workers’ comp unfairly treats mental or psychological injuries differently than physical ones.  Our system is a “no-fault” structure.  What does that mean?  Put simply, if an employee is doing his or her job, and suffers a disabling physical injury, he or she is generally entitled to PA workers’ compensation benefits.

It usually does not matter why the injured worker was hurt, though the injured worker had to be engaged in an activity less foolish than swinging a sledgehammer at a bowling ball, or recreationally leaping down a flight of stairs.  Mental or psychological injuries, however, are treated by a different standard.  As a general rule, mental or psychological injuries have to be suffered as a result of “abnormal working conditions.”

There is an entire string of cases, as you might imagine, addressing what constitutes “abnormal working conditions.”  This varies by the job one is doing, so first responders, such as police officers, fire fighters and EMTs, had a very high burden to prove something they encounter on the job is “abnormal.”  Establishing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for a first responder was a difficult battle.

We say “was,” because the Pennsylvania legislature recently passed Senate Bill 365, which defines “First Responder,” and allows these workers to establish a claim for PTSD without the need of showing “abnormal working conditions,” provided the first responder is exposed to a “qualifying traumatic event,” as described in this new law.  This is a terrific, and necessary, development for the PA Workers’ Compensation Act.

Indeed, the only negative to the new law is that it limits such benefits to a period not to exceed 104 weeks (common sense dictates that PTSD does not automatically stop after 104 weeks for the injured worker).  Additionally, SB 365 will not take effect until one year after it was signed into law (October 29, 2025).  We applaud the Pennsylvania Legislature for recognizing the difficulties faced by First Responders every day in doing their heroic jobs.